


Mesmerize

by Dharma_Snowbush



Series: Supergirl Redux [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Domestic Sanvers, Kara Danvers don't need no man, Meeting the ex, Multi, Season 2 Rewrite, Sister-Sister Relationship, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 23:43:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10581915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dharma_Snowbush/pseuds/Dharma_Snowbush
Summary: While chasing down a lead for a story, Kara encounters a metahuman who erases all of her memories of being Supergirl. Alex is desperate to find a way to fix her sister before she exposes herself to National City, while also dealing with an unexpected run-in with Maggie's ex.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to "A Very Strange and Special Girl." You should probably read that before this one, but hey, I'm not the boss of you.

Alex stretched out across the middle of the bed, a fresh cup of coffee perched on the end table, ready to start the Sunday crossword. The apartment was quiet, Maggie still hadn't returned from her late night shift. They had been living together for a few weeks, Maggie having moved in after the incident with Cris and the missing bullet. Alex found the adjustment to living with another person surprisingly easy. Maybe because it was with Maggie, someone she loved, that made it so simple. She wondered briefly if Maggie felt the same way or if she was having any lingering regrets. That being said, as she filled out the first clue of the puzzle, she didn't mind having a morning to herself. Just as the though rolled over in her mind, the door opened and a very tired looking Maggie walked in. 

"Hey, Mags." Alex said, sitting up. Even though Maggie looked completely exhausted, Alex couldn't help but smile. Partially because she was happy Maggie was home safe, but more importantly, Alex loved how Maggie looked dressed in her NCPD patrol uniform. The National City Brawlin' Emus baseball team was in the playoffs for the first time in forty years which meant the city was in the throes of a week-long celebration. Every time the Emus won, fans flooded from the stadium into the streets of Old Town for a revelry lasting far into the night. The crowds had the cops stretched thin, so the members of Maggie's unit were helping out, taking turns on patrol, making sure the festivities didn't get out of hand.

"Morning," Maggie mumbled, pulling her uniform shirt from her pants and heading directly into the bathroom.

"Long night?" Alex called through the door. She heard the water start running before Maggie answered.

"Broke up a few drunken fist fights, dealt with a few smashed windows, so the usual." The bathroom door opened again and Maggie stepped back into the living room having changed into pajamas. Alex laid back down on her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows at the end of the bed.

"But seriously, if I have to write up another wasted fratbro for public urination, I'm going to lose my shit." 

"Ugh, be glad you don't have to deal with that on a regular basis." Alex said, looking back down at the newspaper.

"I certainly am," Maggie climbed on the bed and onto Alex's back, her knees on either side of Alex's thighs. "Luckily, most people are cool. They just want to have a good time and enjoy the Emus' winning streak." She leaned down, brushing the hair away from Alex's neck and placing a kiss behind her ear. 

A sigh of contentment escaped Alex's lips. "Well, you're home now." Alex said, shifting under Maggie so she could face her, "You want to get a little bit of sleep first and then I thought we could go see a movie."

Maggie rested on her forearms, kissing Alex again. "That's one idea."

Alex wrapped her arms around the back of Maggie's neck, pulling her down to capture her lips again, relishing the feeling of Maggie's weight settling against her body. But a nagging feeling crept up on her.

"Maggie, can I ask you a question?" Alex said.

Maggie sat back, slightly concerned about Alex's serious tone. "Sure, what's on your mind?"

"How am I doing?" She asked.

Maggie laughed, "If yesterday was any indication, I'd say you're doing better than fine." Maggie moved to kiss Alex again, but instead got a face full of Alex's hand.

"Hold on there, Casanova, that's not what I meant." Alex sat up fully. "I mean with this whole 'you and me living in domestic bliss' thing. How am I doing?"

"Are you looking for like a progress report or something?" Maggie joked, leaning back against the headboard.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe? I've never done this before, so-" Alex hesitated, "I just want this to work out, that's all." Alex collapsed back onto the mattress, throwing her arm dramatically over her face.

Maggie flopped down next to Alex, "Danvers, I'm not an expert or anything on long term relationships, but I'd say things are going pretty well, wouldn't you?" She reached for Alex's hand, lacing their fingers together. 

"Yeah, but you lived with someone before, right? Back in Gotham? And it didn't work out." Alex said, "What if we break up because I hate that you leave your dirty socks around?"

"Al, Kate and I didn't break up because of socks. There were a lot of things wrong with our relationship and neither of us were willing to be the one to give."

Alex looked at Maggie, her insecurities exposed plainly on her face. "What about us, then?" Alex asked quietly.

"It's different," Maggie rubbed her eye, trying to explain. "Things are easier for us because I want them to work out. You make me really happy Alex, and I love you." Maggie reached for Alex's cheek, kissing her softly.

"Good to know," Alex smiled brightly. "I love you too."

"Now that's settled," Maggie said, situation herself on the bed, getting underneath the blankets. "I am going to sleep and when I wake up, I expect there to be an exorbitant amount of Chinese food to be waiting for me."

Alex shook her head and chuckled to herself, picking up her newspaper and coffee and moving herself to the living room couch. Maggie was right, Alex thought as she pulled her feet up underneath herself and read the next clue from the crossword puzzle, she was happier than she had ever been. Alex found it so easy to be with Maggie. She knew it was the way it should've always been. Alex felt bad for her past self for thinking love needed to be a fight or struggle or that being with another person meant losing a part of yourself.

An eleven letter word for happiness and satisfaction, Alex filled the boxes in: contentment.

* * *

Kara spun in her desk chair, looking for any momentary distraction from the article she was writing. After the rush of fighting aliens, sometimes she found it difficult to regain an interest in office work. 

She checked her watch, 11:35. In another hour she could leave to meet Lena Luthor for lunch. A new Asian fusion place had opened downtown and if there was one thing Lena could be counted on for, it was getting reservations at the best new restaurants.

Kara looked at her text thread from Lena to find the address and laughed to see her newest message. Lena had recently discovered memes and kept sending Kara pictures of grumpy cat or asking why people kept shoving breadsticks into their purses. It made Kara wonder which one of them was actually new to this planet.

11:37. Kara slumped in her chair, she wondered if there was some sort of metahuman slowing down time. 

"Kara," A voice appeared behind her. Kara turned to see Mary Bromfield, the new CatCo CEO. "Can I see you in my office?" Mary gave Kara a small smile as Kara leapt up.

"Of course!" Kara said.

Mary settled back down at her chair, removing her forearm crutches and leaning them against the desk. Kara took a second to notice the changes Mary had made to the office. The TVs were gone for one, but it also seemed less white and sterile.

"What can I do for you, Ms. Bromfield?" Kara asked, sitting down in a chair on the other side of the desk.

"Well," Mary pursed her lips, "I wanted to discuss a few concerns I have about your work here at CatCo."

Kara was floored. She thought maybe Mary needed an in with Supergirl or someone to get her lunch. She never thought it would be about her job.

"What do you mean?" Kara asked, furrowing her brow.

"I think you're stuck in a comfort zone. Your last six articles are either about Lena Luthor or heavily based around quotes from Supergirl." Mary picked up a pen and tapped it a few times against a notepad. "Don't get me wrong, I admire the Girl of Steel as much as the next person, it's just not what I consider the focus of CatCo magazine." Mary set the pen back down. "I've talked to Mr. Carr about it and, though he impressed upon me that when pushed, you are capable of some excellent reporting, we both agree you may be suited for a less arduous position."

Kara felt like she had the wind knocked from her lungs. "Are you firing me?" Kara felt hot tears prick from her eyes.

"No, of course not," Mary said, "I think you are compassionate and hardworking and I'd like to keep you here at CatCo."

"Just not as a reporter," Kara replied bitterly.

"Maybe not, but I'm certainly going to give you a chance. I want three new leads from you, on my desk by the end of the week. Then we'll go from there." Mary nodded her head.

Kara slumped in the chair and Mary could see the defeated look settle on Kara's face.

"Listen, don't let this get to your head. Think of it as an opportunity. If you truly want to be a reporter here, you'll find a way. I believe I you, Kara." Mary smiled at Kara who stood up slowly.

"Thank you, Ms. Bromfield." Kara said weakly before shuffling back to her desk.


	2. Chapter 2

Kara sent a panicked text to Alex, begging her to meet Kara at Noonan's in thirty minutes. After Alex agreed, Kara sent another text to Lena apologizing furiously and begging for a rain check. Lena was understanding, she sent Kara an "I know that feel, bro" meme and a smiley face back. It was a small gesture, but it made Kara happy to know that Lena Luthor: CEO of L Corp felt comfortable enough with Kara to text her emojis.

Kara was relieved to see both Alex and Maggie waiting for her when she arrived. She zipped into the restaurant, probably a little faster than would be considered normal.

"Thank Rao you're here," Kara said, grabbing a large handful of nachos off the plate in the middle of the table and shoving them into her mouth.

"Yeah, help yourself," Alex muttered sarcastically.

"What's the trouble, Little Danvers," Maggie said, elbowing Alex in the ribs.

"My boss told me that I've been stuck in my comfort zone. That I haven't been bringing in the kind of hard-hitting stories worthy of CatCo Magazine." Kara grabbed more nachos.

"I thought you and Snapper had come to a mutual understanding after you got the exclusive with that fashion designer." Alex asked.

"Not Snapper." Kara huffed, "Mary Bromfield. Who is apparently a dumb jerk." 

Kara crossed her arms and sank down into the booth.

"Yikes." Alex said, "You're not used to having your judgement questioned like this. And I thought you liked Mary. Just last week you were gushing about how accomplished Mary was, having worked for NPR and being hand selected by Cat Grant herself for this position."

"I don't gush," Kara grumbled.

"What are you going to do?" Alex asked, waiting to hear the rest of Kara's situation.

"She giving me a chance to prove myself. She wants me to dig up three solid leads by Friday." Kara said dejectedly.

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard for Supergirl." Alex said.

"That's my problem. She thinks I'm relying too heavily on 'quotes from Supergirl.'" Kara made heavy air quotes with her fingers. "She wants to see Kara Danvers put in more work."

"And you can't very well explain to her that you are the one doing the Supergirl leg-work." Maggie said.

"What am I going to do, Alex?" Kara asked with a pathetic look on her face.

The three women sat quietly, mulling over Kara's conundrum. Mary was right, Kara had been using the stories she got while saving the city as Supergirl, thinking her tales of derring-do would be enough to appease her bosses. But with all the time she spent protecting the city, Kara wasn't sure if she would be able to track down the leads Mary wanted to see.

"Kara, I think you have a decision to make." Alex finally said. "Maybe you should consider the choice Mary is offering you."

Kara raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I'm not sure what you mean."

Alex looked at Maggie before continuing, carefully choosing her words. "This could be an opportunity for you to go full-time with Supergirl. You've finally been able to embrace the Kryptonian part of yourself, you could be putting your whole attention toward protecting National City if you wanted."

Kara stared at her sister, her jaw dropping slightly. "No, I can't do that. I'm not just Supergirl, I'm Kara Danvers too. I'm not going to go from hiding one part of my self to the other."

"OK, OK." Alex said. "I hear you. What can we do to help?"

"I think I may have an idea." Maggie interjected. "Something I overheard from a few of the boys I was patrolling with in Old Town. They've noticed an uptick in hospitalizations. At first they thought it was because of all of the celebrations happening, you know, people not watching their limits. But the symptoms have been odd."

"Odd how?" Kara asked, leaning forward.

"Fevers, hallucinations. But then it seems to wear off in a few hours leaving people confused and disoriented." Maggie said. "They suspect someone is using the chaos to move illegal drugs through the city, but there's no proof, so it's on the back-burner for now." Maggie shrugged. "Might be something Kara Danvers could look into."

"Maggie, that is perfect! Thank you." Kara said, pulling a notebook from her bag.

"Kara, if you do this, you have to promise me you'll be careful." Alex warned. 

"Of course, of course." Kara waved off Alex's concerns with a flick of her hand. "Now, Maggie. Tell me everything you know."

* * *

Kara touched down in Old Town just after one in the morning. She pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up over her face, checking the address Maggie had given her one more time, making sure she was in the right place. It had been a risk to fly without wearing her costume, but she didn't want there to be a chance of Mary thinking Supergirl had anything to do with this.

Kara stood in front of an empty office building. It was the most recent site that first responders had been called in for someone exhibiting those strange symptoms. The windows were papered over and there was a faded, "For Lease" sign hanging from the door. There didn't seem to be any activity happening, but she honed in with her x-ray vision, checking the different floors of the building. A minute later she spotted some movement. Three people sitting around a bunch of large crates on the third floor.

She jiggled the handle of the door, only to find it locked. Looking quickly around her to see if anyone was nearby, she jiggled it more forcefully, this time ripping the knob clear off the door. She winced at the way the noise echoed through the building. 

"Shoot," Kara whispered to herself. She checked the location of the three people and was dismayed to find they had moved. She was sure they heard her clumsy attempt at breaking and entering. Kara moved quickly to the stairwell, taking the steps two at a time. She used her x-ray vision again, spotting two bodies still on the floor above her. 

Kara peered around the corner of the hallway. She was so preoccupied making sure her way up was clear, she didn't think to check behind her. The third person she didn't spot had circled around from a back staircase and snuck up on Kara. She didn't even realize he was there until a hand grabbed her from behind. 

"You don't belong here." The large man said. "You're gonna have to come see boss-lady." 

Kara let herself be dragged along up another flight of stairs by the man in the thick, navy sweater. She wanted to handle herself as Kara Danvers as long as possible. If Supergirl was to show up, she'd lose out on a potential story and be back to square one. She didn't want that, especially as it seemed she had stumbled onto some sort of illegal activity.

The man pulled Kara into a room where two women sat. She dangled limply in his firm grasp, giving a wide-eyed look to the angry faces staring back at her.

"Uh, this isn't where I parked my car." Kara joked, her voice faltering.

"What are you doing here?" A woman with short, dark hair stood up. She wore heavy boots and a long black coat.

"Nothing, I swear." Kara pleaded.

The other woman, younger and blonde and wearing a faded jean jacket, took a few steps toward Kara, snatching Kara's bag off her shoulder. She dug through it, not finding anything worthwhile.

"Eh, she's not a cop or anything. She's just some dumb kid." She said, dropping Kara's bag.

"Mesmer, can't you just deal with her already? We've got shit to do. Bulldozer is supposed to be meeting us in like twenty minutes." The man who held her grumbled.

"Greg, what have I told you about those stupid nicknames?" The short haired woman said exasperatedly, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"It's Kong," He muttered under his breath. The blonde woman snort-laughed at his aside, ignoring the glare from the short haired woman.

"Fine," The short haired woman said, "Bring her here."

The man shoved Kara into a room, she hit the ground harder than expected, the impact sending her glasses skittering across the floor. She made a show of feeling around for them only to hear a crunching sound. She looked to see the smashed remains of her glasses underneath Mesmer's boot. The blonde woman shook her head, grabbing Kara's arm and helping her to her feet.

"That was unnecessary," The woman said to both of her companions.

"Don't worry about it, she won't remember any of this anyway." Mesmer said.

Kara's heart seized, her head snapping toward Mesmer. Their eyes locked and Kara's vision went out of focus. 

She blinked a few times. 

Kara was standing in an empty room. She tried to remember where she was and why. Looking around, she noticed her bag at her feet. She picked it up and opened it, finding her cell phone, wallet, and notepad. That's right, she thought. She was following up on a lead Maggie had given her that afternoon. She had gone to the address, but didn't find anything. She looked at her watch - it was 3 AM. She must have dozed a bit and gotten disoriented. Kara tossed her bag over her shoulder again, slightly disappointed that Maggie's tip hadn't panned out. She resigned herself to the fact that she would have to spend some time brainstorming at work tomorrow. Rubbing her tired eyes, she made her way back to the street and started on her walk back to her apartment.


	3. Chapter 3

Kara made it to work the next morning just before 9. She jogged the last block to the CatCo building, not sure if she was going to make it on time. Settling down at her desk, she blew out a long breath. She would have to set her alarm earlier tomorrow if she didn't want to be so rushed.

She fired up her computer and took her notebook from her bag, looking over the notes she had made during her lunch with Maggie and Alex. Maggie was sure someone had been picked up from an OD at that address, maybe she could go back and check out a few of the other buildings on that block.

"Kara!" A sharp voice pulled Kara from her thoughts. She whipped around to see who was addressing her. Mary Bromfield stood nearby, staring a Kara with a look of alarm.

"Yes, Ms. Bromfield?" Kara asked, unsure what was causing her boss's distress. "I've been working on those leads you want, I think I'm onto something-" Kara's voice trailed off as she noticed Mary's attention was no longer on her. She was looking wildly all around the office with a knitted brow.

"Kara, where are your glasses?" She spoke in a low voice.

Kara reached up and touched the side of her face. "Oh, that's right. I was in such a hurry this morning, I guess I forgot them."

Mary looked at Kara with concern. "I think you keep a spare pair in your desk drawer.” She spoke in a low voice, so that only Kara could hear her. “I think you'd better put them on before you hurt yourself." Mary patted Kara on the back before walking back to her office.

Kara spent the morning attempting to turn up another lead. She had heard a few whispers of the mayor having an affair and it so happened that she knew that one of Cat's former assistants now worked as one of his staffers. But after a half dozen phone calls, Kara was no closer to confirming the rumor.

Eventually, Kara was interrupted by a call from her sister. Frankly, after getting nowhere so quickly, she was happy for the momentary distraction.

"Hey, Alex. What's up?" Kara said, answering the phone.

"Not much. Just checking up on you. I'm assuming you followed up on the tip Maggie gave you."

"I did," Kara replied, "But it was a bust. I didn't find anything."

"Huh, that's strange. Maggie seemed sure that the info was good." Alex said.

"Maybe the address was wrong." Kara picked up a pencil and mindlessly underlined the address in her notebook a few times. "I thought I may go over to Old Town a little later and ask around to see if any of the store owners have seen anything strange." Kara tapped the eraser of her pencil against her notebook.

"Good plan," Alex said. "Do you want to meet for lunch while you're out?"

"No thanks," Kara declined. "I'm not that hungry and I've got a lot of work to do yet.

There was a long pause on Alex's end and Kara thought the call may have disconnected.

"Alex, are you there?" Kara asked.

"Yeah," Alex said slowly. "Kara, are you feeling alright?"

"Of course," Kara said. "I'm just really busy."

"OK," Alex said, conceding to Kara, though her voice still sounded unsure. "I'll see you later then?"

"Definitely."

Kara tossed her phone back on her desk and sighed heavily. She had a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in. She stood up to stretch before grabbing her notebook and bag. Time to hit the pavement, she thought to herself, and see what shakes loose.

* * *

Kara ended up rescheduling her rain check with Lena for that evening. The change in location helped refresh Kara's mind, as did the bowls of roasted duck curry. Lena helped Kara brainstorm potential story ideas and Kara explained how the lead she followed the night before turned nothing up. Even more disappointing, canvassing Old Town had been a bust. There were just too many people celebrating the Brawlin' Emus for anyone to notice anything out of the ordinary.

Even so, Kara left the restaurant feeling less stressed than she had been earlier in the day. Lena had been so helpful, giving her a few good suggestions of places to search for stories - checking city council meeting notes or other seemingly innocuous public documents.

The night was nice, so Kara and Lena decided to walk back to L Corp. Lena had a few more business items to attend to and Kara could catch the bus at a stop around the block.

"You seem different today," Lena commented, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jacket.

"How so?" Kara asked.

"More engaged?" She shrugged. "I know you're passionate about your job, but I've never seen you so laser focused on a story."

"I hope that's a good thing," Kara laughed.

"It is. I'm very impressed. If things don't work out for you at CatCo, I may be tempted to poach you for L Corp's PR department.

Their conversation was interrupted when Lena felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder.

"Walk right into the next alley, don't yell and neither of you will get hurt."

Kara turned and saw the glinting metal of the handgun the man had pressed into Lena's side. Lena and Kara made furtive eye contact, agreeing to do what the man said. Lena nodded slightly and lead them all into the alley.

"Take it easy, sir." Kara tried to intervene once they were hidden from anyone that might be passing by.

"No. Don't say anything." The man said, pointing his gun at Kara but keeping his hand firmly on Lena. "There's no need for either of you to talk."

Kara reached into her back pocket for her wallet, keeping one hand outstretched toward the mugger.

"OK, OK." She said. "I don't have much, but you're welcome to it."

The man turned his attention to Kara and with the distraction, Lena reached into her purse and grabbed her taser, jamming it into the man's neck. The action cause a skirmish to break out, the man yelled in pain, firing a few wild shots from his gun in Kara's direction.

Lena screamed as Kara collapsed to the ground. The man panicked, colliding with Lena as he fled the scene.

"Kara!" Lena shouted, scrambling over to Kara. She grabbed onto Kara's shoulders, searching for her wounds.

Kara's eyes were clenched shut, whimpering slightly at Lena's touch. She finally worked up the courage to open one of her eyes.

"Am I OK?" Kara said hesitatingly, looking at Lena's terrified face. "I feel like I'm OK."

They both stared at each other, trying to piece together what happened.

"I guess the gun wasn’t loaded? Maybe he was just trying to scare us." Kara said, sitting up slightly on her elbows.

Kara watched as Lena's eyes trailed down to Kara's chest.

"Kara?" Lena said, gently reaching out and plucking a smashed bullet from one of the burned holes in Kara's button down. "I don't think that's what happened."

* * *

Alex leaned back in her chair as far as it would go, resting the heels of her boots on the desk. The night was making out to be a quiet one. She hoped she would be able to sneak out early to spend a few hours with Maggie.

"Agent Danvers?" A voice called out, echoing off the ceiling.

Alex twisted toward the sound, seeing Lena Luthor standing in the main atrium of the DEO, a smiling Kara next to her. Alex leapt to her feet as Kara started waving, catching sight of her sister.

"Agent Danvers." Lena said again, "I believe she belongs to you."

Alex walked up to them, noticing the grime and bullet holes in her sister's shirt as she got closer.

"You should probably deal with this," Lena said, pressing her hand against the small of Kara's back, pushing her toward Alex. "Before she lets all of National City know that Kara Danvers is Supergirl."


	4. Chapter 4

After the shock of seeing Lena Luthor at the DEO wore off, Alex snapped into action. Lena did her best to fill Alex in on the situation, but she didn't have a ton of information. As far as Lena knew, the person she had been with that evening was Kara Danvers and not a clone or cyborg.

"She seems to be herself," Lena told Alex, "She just doesn't know anything about Supergirl." Lena paused, thinking, "Although that does explain the odd occurrence at dinner wherein she destroyed three different sets of silverware."

Lena left not long after that, sweeping out dramatically while making a promise to Alex that, 'as far as I'm concerned, this night never happened.' Normally, Alex would've insisted on the formality of an NDA, but she was too focused on her sister to force Lena to stay and fill out paperwork.

Alex dragged Kara to the medical wing and put her through a battery of tests. Vitals, blood work, EKG, MRI, anything Alex could think of. All the while, she asked Kara a series of questions about her life and childhood.

"Who's the president?" Alex asked, trying to take Kara's blood pressure.

"Is this really necessary?" Kara whined, struggling to get away from Alex's probing.

"Just humor me please," Alex said.

"Fine." Kara stamped her foot, a layer of tile and concrete subfloor crushing beneath her shoe. Alex winced, pushing her sister back down onto the bed.

"What sort of shoddy contractor did the DEO hire?" Kara grumbled. "That's got to be some sort of safety hazard.

"Don't worry about that right now. Just answer my question."

"The president is Olivia Marsdin." Kara answered. "Can I go now?"

Alex ignored her sister. "Who stopped Livewire and Silver Banshee last year?"

"The fine members of the National City Fire Department." Kara replied.

Alex's mouth tightened into a thin line while she undid the cuff.

"I'm just kidding," Kara laughed. "Jeeze, you need to relax. It was The Flash. That was a great day. I helped Cat cover that incident for the magazine."

Alex made a note in Kara’s chart.

"Can I please go home?" Kara pleaded, "I have a story I need to work on."

"When did you come to live with the Danvers?" Alex kept at her questions.

"When I was 13."

"And where did you live before that?"

Kara opened her mouth to answer, but hesitated. Alex watched as a flash of confusion crossed Kara's face.

"I don't really remember much before I became a part of your family."

Alex looked at her sister. It was strange, seeing Kara as just _Kara_. Not Supergirl, not Kara forced to hide that special part of herself away, not Kara who knows she can always do more to protect Earth. For once, she was seeing plain old Kara Danvers. It was an eerie, through-the-looking-glass moment to stand in front of this person who was ostensibly her sister - all of her other memories were intact, and yet, it wasn't the same. Without Supergirl, Kara Danvers was only half of herself.

"Alex?" Winn leaned his head into the exam room. "M'gann is here."

Alex followed Winn into the hallway, wanting to have a quick word with M'gann before she saw Kara.

"Thanks for coming over so quickly." Alex said.

"Why am I here?" M'gann asked sharply.

"Because you agreed to help us."

"No, I agreed to help Kara."

Alex sighed in frustration. She and M'gann and gotten off on the wrong foot. The Martian was already reluctant to work with the DEO and she was still cold toward Alex who had been ordered to lead team that had detained M'gann.

"Listen, something has happened to Kara. She has no memories of being Supergirl. So unless you're planning on protecting the city singlehandedly from here on out, you need to help me."

M'gann worked over the request, her mouth twisting in displeasure.

"Fine." She relented, "What happened?"

"We're not sure yet." Alex said.

"What do you want from me?" M’gann looked around the hallway, checking for her exits. Even as a guest, being in the DEO made M'gann nervous.

"Can you use your powers to examine her mind? Maybe you can unlock whatever it is that's blocking her memories." Alex rubbed her hands against her pants anxiously, feeling like they were quickly running out of options.

"Why can't J'onn do this?"

"Because, you helped her with Ultraa which means you know the inside of her mind better than anyone else. Please, M’gann.” Alex said.

"Alright, lead the way," M’gann gestured toward the open door. She followed Alex into the room where Kara was still waiting.

"M'gann!" Kara said with a smile. The greeting caused M'gann to stop with surprise.

"You recognize me?" M'gann asked.

"Why wouldn't I," Kara replied, "What are you doing here?"

"Alex asked me to check you out. It will be very quick, with your permission, of course."

Kara looked nervously to Alex, "Is she going to do some sort of Vulcan mind meld?"

"Something like that. Just relax, I promise this will be the last test." Alex said.

"Alright," Kara said. M’gann stepped closer to Kara and grasped the sides of Kara’s head.

Alex stared at the floor and after what felt like only a minute, M’gann stepped back away from Kara.

"All done," M’gann said, giving Kara a comforting smile. M’gann looked at Alex and nodded toward the door.

"I'm sorry, Alex." M’gann whispered when they reached the hallway again.

Alex felt her heart sink into her stomach, "What are you saying?"

"It's not that her memories of Supergirl are blocked." M'gann said, "It's that they're not there at all."

"How is that possible?" Alex asked.

"I'm not sure, but I did see something odd. I think it was a fragment of the night her memories were tampered with. There was a woman with short dark hair and I think they were in some sort of abandoned warehouse or office park."

"Her lead," Alex said to herself.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't be more help." M'gann apologized.

"No, thank you M’gann. It’s more than we knew an hour ago." Alex said.

"I wouldn't worry too much yet. The mind is a strange and complex machine. I'm sure you will figure out something."

"Yeah, but until then what am I supposed to do with her?" Alex pointed her thumb over her shoulder toward Kara. "It's like she's 13 again and doesn't know how to use all of her powers."

M'gann peered back into the room to see Kara attempt to wash her hands only to rip the taps clear off the sink.

"I don't know, tell her she's on steroids or something." M'gann shrugged.

"Thanks for the suggestion," Alex said sarcastically. "Listen, would you mind checking in with Winn on your way out? Give him the description of the woman you saw in Kara's mind. We might be able to find a match off of the security camera footage from the area Kara was in last night."

"Of course, Agent Danvers." M'gann shook Alex's hand before making her way back to the main floor.

Alex took a deep breath, going over everything they knew, which admittedly, still wasn't much. For now, she was going to keep Kara out of the loop. There was no need to worry her until they knew more.

"Everything checks out," Alex said. "You are a perfectly healthy 26 year old."

Kara hopped off the bed and buttoned her shirt. "I could've told you that." Kara looked at her sister and could tell there was something else on her mind. "Are you sure everything is alright?"

"Yeah," Alex said, stepping aside. "Now you go home and get some sleep. Doctor's orders."

Kara laughed and wrapped her arms around her sister. "Thanks for always looking out for me, Alex."

"Always."

* * *

The next morning, Alex and Maggie stood quietly in the elevator as it slowly rose to the top floors of L Corp.

"I can't help but feel like this is my fault," Maggie said. "I'm the one who gave Kara that lead. She wouldn't have been there at all had I not mentioned it."

"No, no." Alex said, resting her hand gently on Maggie's bicep. "You were helping her out. There's no way any of us could've predicted something like this was going to happen."

"Still, I am sorry," Maggie squeezed Alex's hand.

"We're going to fix this." Alex said.

"I know."

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open as they reached their floor. They were greeted by Lena's assistant, asking if they wouldn't mind waiting a minute while Lena wrapped up with her meeting. Alex nodded in agreement, using the time to go over in her head what she was planning to tell Lena Luthor.

The image of the woman M'gann had seen inside of Kara's mind had given their investigation a place to start. Winn ran the sketch through police databases and a name had popped - Gladys St. James. She had a few aggravated assault charges, a drug possession arrest and was wanted for questioning in at least three separate armed robberies. Even more curious were the lack of eyewitnesses far any of the robberies, all of which had occurred in broad daylight. People who were at the crime scenes had no memory of it, hence the authorities dubbing her, "Mesmer." Alex felt certain they were dealing with some sort of non-human entity.

"Mags."

Alex, caught in thought, hadn't noticed Lena exiting her office with a very tall, elegant looking woman. She had porcelain skin, red hair in a cropped bob, wore an expertly tailored three piece suit and was currently looking at Maggie as if she was seeing a ghost.

"Alex," Maggie whispered, "Can you give me a minute?" Alex could hear the panic creep into the edges of Maggie's voice. "I'll meet you in there?"

"Yeah, OK." Alex said as Lena beckoned Alex into her office. Alex stepped in after Lena, catching a glimpse of the woman kissing Maggie's cheek as the door closed behind her.

"I had no idea Detective Sawyer knew Kate Kane." Lena remarked as she poured herself a glass of water.

"Kate Kane." Alex let the name roll over in her mind. "Yes, back in Gotham. When Maggie was a beat cop." Alex said slowly.

"Small world," Lena chuckled, "But something tells me you aren't here to discuss our mutual acquaintances. Or rather, you probably are.” Lena said knowingly, tracing the lip of the glass with her finger. “How is your sister?"

"Physically she's fine. We're still not sure about her memories." It felt odd discussing Supergirl with Lena Luthor, but thus far, she hadn't given Alex any reason not to trust her. "We think we’ve identified the person responsible." Alex placed a sheet of paper on Lena’s desk. 

"Gladys St. James AKA Mesmer." Lena read. "Catchy. So, is there anything I can do?" She asked, glancing at the door as Maggie slipped in quietly.

"If you can come up with any way to help her regain her memories, we're all ears." Alex said. "Any tech or prototypes, we're willing to try anything."

"I will, Agent Danvers."

"Thank you, Ms. Luthor."

"Call me Lena, please. Honestly, I thought this was going to be some hard-nosed demand for ultimate secrecy followed by a mountain of paperwork."

"I think we're past that." Alex said. "You've been a good friend to Kara. I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt her."

"Thank you, Agent Danvers." Lena nodded as Alex and Maggie made their way to the door.

"And Lena-" Alex stopped. "I'm sorry you had to find out about Supergirl this way. I know Kara would've preferred to tell you herself."

"I understand. Plus, I had my suspicions. Your sister isn't exactly a master of disguise."

"That's it." Alex threw her hands up. "I'm buying that girl a wig."

Alex and Maggie walked back out past the assistant's desk. Once they were on their way down to the lobby, Maggie broached the elephant in the elevator.

"Do you want to talk about that?" Maggie asked cautiously.

"That was your ex-girlfriend." Alex said more as a statement than question.

"Yes. My ex." Maggie confirmed.

"Your ex. Kate Kane. Gotham socialite and millionaire philanthropist, Kate Kane."

"She was hardly being philanthropic when she used to put the empty milk container back in the refrigerator." Maggie grumbled. 

Alex looked at her with a cold stare. 

"Sorry." Maggie said. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Alex. I never thought I would ever see her again. I didn't see any reason to bring it up."

"But she's here now," Alex said.

"Just for a few days. She's pitching some charity gala fundraiser to L Corp. If she had any idea we even had a chance of running into each other, she would've let me know."

Alex didn't respond. The elevator reached bottom floor and Alex exited into the lobby.

"Tell me how you're feeling." Maggie asked, catching up with her.

Alex pushed the main doors open, taking a few steps onto the street before turning back to Maggie.

"Like I don't want to talk about this right now. I have to get back to the DEO and you need to get to your appointment."

Maggie sighed, "Yeah, fine. I'll see you later."


	5. Chapter 5

Kara scoured the staff kitchen, hoping to find something to satisfy her afternoon sugar craving. In her determined search, she didn't notice someone else standing nearby.

"Kara Danvers, you were early today." Mary Bromfield said while waiting for her coffee to brew.

"The news waits for no man or woman, Ms. Bromfield." Kara said, turning up a package of M&Ms with questionable origins.

"How are those leads coming?" Mary asked, stirring some cream into her mug.

"Great," Kara said. "I think you're going to be really impressed."

"That's what I like to hear." Mary said, walking back to her office.

Kara had only been back at her desk for a few minutes when she noticed chaos break out among the _National City Scene_ staffers. She caught the words, "gas main break" and "inferno" being shouted back and forth. From what she could piece together, a gas leak in Old Town had caused a fire to break out. Kara grabbed her bag and notebook and rushed into Mary's office. Kara noticed that Mary already had a few of the televisions turned to the news stations covering the fire.

"Ms. Bromfield, you have to let me go down there."

"Kara, our city paper guys will cover it. You have enough work on your plate right now."

"But people could be hurt. They might need my help." Kara pleaded.

Mary raised an eyebrow at Kara's insistence. "Your help?"

"Please."

Mary saw the fierce look in Kara’s eyes and knew Kara would probably leave whether or not she approved.

"Fine, but take Brownling with you." Mary dialed the extension for their city paper photographer, "And don't get yourself killed!" She shouted at the flip of Kara's ponytail, as Kara was already out the door.

* * *

Alex had assembled Winn and M'gann at the DEO to help her brainstorm any ideas to help Kara.

"Why do we even need to fix her memories?" M'gann asked after listening to an hour of Winn and Alex discussing the minutia of brain chemistry. "She still has her powers. Can't she just relearn to be Supergirl?"

"No. Kara is one of the last survivors of Krypton. Those are her memories of her family and her planet. I won't let her go on without them." Alex said firmly.

"Listen, the one thing we've determined so far is how profoundly complex the science of the mind. We aren't any closer to even coming up with a plan, let alone building a prototype to test. So, what if we thought outside the box. Instead of inventing a device to replicate Mesmer's powers, what if we tried something like exposure therapy?" Winn said. "We could take her up to the roof and, you know-" He mimed a shoving motion with his hands.

"I'm sorry, did you just suggest we push my baby sister off the top of a building?" Alex asked, giving Winn a death glare.

"Well, it sounds bad when you say it like that." Winn said sheepishly.

"Alex," J'onn interrupted. "I need you."

Alex stepped closer to J'onn. "What is it?"

"There's been a report of a fire in Old Town." He leaned in closer, "We believe your sister is there."

"Supergirl?" Alex let herself hope for a moment that somehow her sister had remembered.

"No." He said gravely, "Kara."

Alex's eyes wet wide. "If she uses her powers and someone sees her-"

"Then her secret will be out and it won't matter if we can bring her memories back. Her life as Kara Danvers will be over." J'onn finished.

"We have to go down there now." Alex snapped into DEO agent mode. "Winn, call Maggie and tell her where to meet us. M'gann, you're with me."

* * *

"Hey, Mags." Kate stood up from the diner booth to greet Maggie. "Thanks for meeting me."

Maggie noticed Kate had shed her jacket at some point that morning. Now she sported just the vest over her crisp button down with the sleeves rolled to her elbow.

Maggie let Kate kiss her on the cheek again, just for one moment allowing herself slip back into their old patterns as if no time had passed between them. Kate pulled out a chair and gestured for Maggie to sit.

"So, why did you want to see me?" Maggie asked.

"Oh, I just wanted to make sure to remind you of everything you're missing out on these days." Kate said with a smirk.

"Kate." Maggie warned.

"I'm just kidding. I wanted to apologize to you again for this morning. I never thought in a million years I'd run into you at L Corp."

"It certainly was unexpected." Maggie sighed.

"And I also wanted to make sure that I didn't cause any unnecessary conflicts between you and that G-Woman you were with." Kate said.

"Alex."

"Alex." Kate repeated.

"You noticed that? I guess I'm not surprised, I never could hide anything from you. Not the way you could." Maggie said allowing a little bitterness to seep into her voice.

"C'mon, Mags." Kate sighed, "That's ancient history."

"Is it?" Maggie raised an eyebrow.

"Well, the part about you and I, at least."

They sat in silence. There is was, the problem between them. No matter how much Maggie had loved Kate, how much more she wanted to love her, Kate would never let her. Kate always kept part of herself hidden away. Logically, Maggie understood Kate's reticence. She had faced more loss in her life than any one person should, but it was hard to love someone who always kept one eye on the exit.

It was never like that with Alex. For all Alex's stoicism and bravado, she wore her emotions on her sleeve. Alex opened her heart to Maggie the first moment they met and Maggie finally knew what it felt like to truly be loved back.

"How are you doing?" Kate asked finally. "I mean, you look great."

Maggie paused before answering. One of the reasons she agreed to meet Kate was to sit down and look her in the eye. To prove that neither had broken the other beyond repair. That there had been life, for both of them, after the smoking rubble of their relationship had cleared.

"I'm good." Maggie replied, "National City has been a good fit for me. I love my job, I've been able to work some cases with Alex-"

"Alex." Kate repeated again, interrupting Maggie.

"I'll admit, jealousy is a good look on you, Kane." Maggie chuckled lightly.

Kate leaned back dramatically, stretching both her arms across the back of the booth. "Jealous? Me? Never." She smiled back at Maggie. "But I've got to be honest, I never thought government standard issue was your type."

Maggie smiled, thinking of Alex. "There's more to her than meets the eye."

Their conversation stalled again as they struggled to find the rhythm of being in each other's space again.

"So why are you really here?" Maggie asked.

"I promise, I'm only here to sell Lena Luthor my idea for L Corp to host a fundraiser for Alien Amnesty. I have a charity that helps support alien refugees and I think it's high time I shake down the National City elite for once." Kate flagged down a waiter to order coffee for both of them.

"That's it? No ulterior motives?"

"Well, not the ones you're thinking of, at least." Kate said, crossing her ankle over her knee, "Speaking of which, does Renee Montoya still work for the NCPD?"

"You are shameless." Maggie laughed.

"Hey, I might as well have a little fun while I'm here." Kate flashed her signature smirk.

"Montoya is chief now, so I don't think it would be as fun for you as you think."

Their conversation was interrupted by the ring of Maggie's cell phone. When she saw that the call was coming from the DEO, she excused herself to answer.

"Winn? Slow down." Maggie tried to follow along, but Winn was speaking a mile a minute, trying his best to explain the situation with Kara and the gas leak. "Alex wants me to meet her? Text me the address." Maggie hung up abruptly, not needing to hear any more details.

"I'm sorry to cut this short, duty calls." Maggie said, gesturing to her phone.

Maggie stood, "Anything you need help with?"

"Saving kittens from trees or putting out fires isn't really your style. Plus, I don't really know how I would explain showing up with Batwoman in tow."

Hearing the name said out loud shattered the illusion that they could continue on as if nothing had happened. Kate stiffened a bit, pulling her shoulders back.

"Yeah, you're right," Kate said, her voice tinged with regret. "Stay safe, Mags."

Maggie nodded as she left the diner, "You too."


	6. Chapter 6

Kara didn't think twice as she ran toward the burning building. She had left Brownling back at the car, he was still fumbling to get his camera bag out of the trunk when she sprinted off without him.

"Everyone stay back!" She shouted, forcing herself in the opposite direction of the crowds of people. "Get away from here!"

First responders had their hands full controlling the blaze which had already reached the top floors of the building. Windows had broken and Kara could see flames licking out toward the roof. She neared the building when an officer grabbed her arm.

"Miss, you can't go that way. It's dangerous, you need to turn around." 

Kara ignored him, jerking herself forcefully out of his grip and jogging closer to the building.

"Hey!" He called to her, but not daring to follow her any closer to the heat of the blaze. Kara reached the front door and stopped. She could feel the power of the fire, the thought of going inside scared her, but she knew that there were people still trapped within. She took a deep breath to steel her resolve and put her shoulder through the door.

The metal caved to her strength like it was nothing more than plywood. Kara was surprised, but assumed the hinges must have been weakened from the fire. She listened around, her ears perking up when she caught the frantic conversation of a few people on the floor above her. Kara ran up the steps, only to find the top blocked by flames. She could hear the voices more clearly now, could hear their fear. 

Kara pulled her button-down off and used it to cover her mouth before leaping through the fire. Once on the other side, she dropped her shirt breathing heavily, shocked she wasn't burnt to a crisp. 

"Holy shit! Where did you come from?" A young man shouted over the noise of the building coming down around them.

"No time for that," Kara said, "Are there others?"

"Yeah, like six of us got trapped. Can you help us?" He lead Kara to an office where she found five terrified people trying to hide. 

"Where are the emergency stairs?" Kara asked. 

"They're blocked," the young man said. "That's what I was checking on when I ran into you."

Kara looked around, trying to quickly come up with a solution. From the window, she could see firefighters. 

"We're not that high, if we can get the window open, I think the fire department can reach you all." Kara said.

"We've tried." A older woman replied, "It's safety glass. There's no way to break it."

Kara pressed on the window, pursing her lips in thought before giving it one firm punch. The pane cracked like a spiderweb under her fist. Kara smiled and punched it even harder, the glass shattering completely. 

"Signal to the fire fighters and get out of here safely," Kara instructed to the gaping looks of the people in the room. Kara didn't wait around for any other questions and ignored their protests of her running back into the heart of the blaze. She squinted through the thick smoke, it was as if she could see right through the floor and she spotted four more people in the basement, one of whom appeared to be trapped.

She picked up her shirt again and headed for the elevator. She pried the doors open and peered down into the shaft, trying to convince herself it didn’t look that high. She knew straight down was the fastest, most direct was to the basement. Kara wrapped her shirt around her hand and leapt toward the cables. She slid down quickly, crashing through the top of the car. She stood up, shocked she wasn’t hurt and that her plan had worked.

"Gladys, we've got to get out of here!" Kara heard a man shout through the elevator door.

"If you hadn't put your goddamned head through a wall and busted that gas main, we wouldn't be so rushed." A woman shouted back. "If we don't get the entire shipment back, it's going to be my ass on the line, so you can just wait another goddamned minute."

Kara pried the second set of elevator doors open to find two men holding duffel bags and a woman zipping another bag shut. The fourth person, a younger blonde woman was sprawled out on the floor underneath a part of the collapsed ceiling. Kara wasn't sure if she was completely conscious.

"Oh, shit, it's you again." The woman said. "How is it possible you're here? Greg, deal with her."

One of the men dropped the duffel he was holding and barreled toward her. Kara dodged his attack, shoving him effortlessly into a pillar. 

"Gladys, we don't have time for this!" The other man yelled.

"Fine!" Gladys growled, grabbing the duffel bags and taking off the other direction.

"What about Del?" Greg called after her.

"Forget her!" Gladys said, disappearing through a hole they had knocked out through the wall.

Kara started to chase the three down, when a weak voice called to her. 

"Help," the young blonde woman croaked out.

Kara turned on her heel, moving back to the young woman’s side.

"Hey, there. I'm Kara and I'm gonna get you out of here." Kara tested the weight of the collapsed beams, the girl crying out in pain as the debris shifted. "It's, OK," Kara said softly. "Hey, what's your name?"

"Del." She said.

"Hi, Del. I'm going lift all of this off of you and it might hurt, but I'm going to do it as quickly as possible." Kara crouched, grabbing the beam and pulling up and hard as she could. She felt her biceps and back flex as she slowly stood up.

"How are you doing that?" Del asked as Kara lifted the debris. With a final strained effort, Kara dropped the beam to the side, freeing her.

"Must be adrenaline." Kara said, picking Del up and carrying her out of the basement. "You know I once read an article about people lifting cars off of trapped children."

Del nodded, slightly dazed as Kara looked for a safe exit.

* * *

Chaos had already erupted by the time Alex, Maggie, and M'gann arrived at the scene. People attempting to flee the burning buildings were spilling out into the streets causing those in Old Town celebrating the Emus to panic. 

"We've gotta do something, Al." Maggie said, "Someone is going to get hurt."

Alex scanned the area again, quickly formulating a plan in her head. "You're right. Maggie, try and help clear the block, I'll go see if I can find Kara and keep her from exposing herself. M'gann, you stay here and, I don't know, make sure something else terrible doesn't happen."

"Great plan, boss!" M'gann shouted to Alex as she and Maggie pushed their way through the throng. 

Once Maggie and Alex reached the street, they split up. Maggie pulled her badge out and began shouting instructions to some of the uniformed officers. She did her best to organize, getting people out of the way of danger. Alex jogged around the perimeter, looking for any sign of her sister. She watched firefighters rescue half a dozen people from a third floor office, somehow _someone_ had managed to break through the glass.

Alex searched for any possible exit to the building that Kara might use. Suddenly, the ground rumbled and a massive column of fire erupted from the sewer like the pits of Hell were opening up. A second explosion followed, the shocks knocking Alex to the ground and tearing a massive portion of the building off. 

Alex struggled to get to her feet, still dazed from the pain of landing awkwardly on her shoulder. Maggie watched in horror as Alex lay helpless in street, the large cinder block debris falling toward her. Alex covered her head in a futile attempt to protect herself from being crushed. A second longer than it should have taken for the concrete to hit the ground passed. And then another. Alex finally looked up to see a hands gripping the edge of the large chunk of cinderblock that nearly killed her.

"Kara?" 

A voice that was obviously not Kara's laughed. 

"No, I'm Mary." The person dropped the block safely to the ground.

A statuesque woman with wavy brown hair, wearing a red skirt and tunic stood before her. She had a short, white cape decorated with gold draped over one shoulder and a wide lightning bolt emblazoned on her chest.

"May I?" She asked, reaching down to help Alex to her feet.

Alex nodded, but was more than a little surprised when the woman wrapped Alex's arm over her shoulder and flew them both to the relative safety of M'gann's location. Maggie met them there a minute later, throwing her arms around Alex.

"Alex, that was too close." Maggie said, her face pressed into Alex's neck.

"Luckily, Mary was here. Wait, what did you say your name was?"

"Mary..." She hesitated, clearly stumped by Alex's question. "Mary Marvel, I guess."

"Mary Marvel?" Alex asked. "That's it?" She glanced around to see if anyone else recognized her.

"Don't look at me," M'gann shrugged as Alex's gazed landed on her, "I thought she was Wonder Woman."

"What, did the Justice League run out of codenames or something?" Maggie asked.

Mary laughed. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting to be doing any heroics today, otherwise I would've thought of something more clever."

"Shit, Alex," Maggie pointed back toward the building. "There's your sister." 

They all turned to look and, sure enough, Kara was walking out of the building carrying an injured young woman. Kara's tank top was on fire, but didn't seem to notice. A nearby reporter spotted her and rushed over.

"I'll handle that," Mary Marvel said, flying over to run interference. She landed directly in front of the reporter whose mouth dropped open when she got a full look at Mary's Amazonian-like size. "Greetings, Ms. Newscaster!" Mary said with an enthusiastic wave. "You can see that the members of the National City Fire Department have gotten the blaze under control. A thorough investigation will have to be done, but I suspect the break in the gas main was the culprit."

Kara, forgotten by the reporter, was ushered away by Maggie who had followed Mary Marvel back toward the building. When they returned, they found Alex arguing with M'gann over whether or not Alex should put her arm in a sling. Kara set the woman gently into the back of the DEO van, while Maggie forced Alex into the sling.

"Wow, what a rush!" Kara said, ripping off the remains of her smoldering tank top and leaving herself in nothing more than her dirty jeans and sports bra. She checked over her arms and torso for burns, but other than being soot stained and sweaty, she found herself otherwise unharmed. "Did you see me Alex? I totally saved those people."

"Yeah, I saw you, alright." Alex said, wincing as she shifted her arm, "You're lucky no one else did."

"I don't mean to interrupt," M'gann interjected, "But I just want to make sure I'm on the same page as everyone else. So, we're just completely ignoring the giant flying lady in the drum major costume?"

Alex looked back to the last place she had seen Mary Marvel, but she was no longer there.

"Oh, shoot. My boss is here," Kara said, spotting the petite CatCo CEO having an argument with Brownling who had finally found his way to the action. Kara ducked behind the van. "She'll kill me if she sees me like this. She told me to be careful."

"Little Danvers is right," Maggie said. "We should all get out of here before we attract any more attention." She grabbed the keys from the pocket of Alex's jacket and climbed into the front seat, waiting for the others to clamber in behind her before turning over the engine and pulling away.


	7. Chapter 7

Back at the DEO, Alex got Del settled in a secure room in the medical bay before getting dragged by Maggie into her own examination room. Maggie demanded Alex get her arm x-rayed before they did anything else. Once they were waiting for Alex's scans, Maggie left Kara and Alex alone to find Kara a sweatshirt to put on.

Alex and Kara sat awkwardly in silence a few moments while Alex attempted to adjust her sling. Finally, Kara stood to help her.

"So," Kara started, "Did you know I could do that? Run into that fire and not get hurt, I mean."

Alex cleared her throat, "Yeah, Kar. I did."

"How?"

"The yellow sun," Alex explained. "It super charges your alien cells and gives you powers."

Kara sat down heavily onto a chair next to Alex.

"Did you say, 'alien'?" She asked in disbelief. "I guess that explains why you were acting so strange yesterday. That's a pretty big thing for me to forget."

"It's not your fault. You had a run-in with a metahuman who tampered with your mind." Alex reached for Kara's hand with her uninjured arm. "I was hoping we would have figured out a way to get your memory back before you realized something was wrong. I'm sorry, Kara." Alex apologized.

Kara leaned her head back against the medical bay room wall, trying to absorb everything Alex was telling her.

"How is it possible that I don't seem to mind that a huge part of my life is missing?" She asked.

"I don't really have an answer for that." Alex admitted. "But I'm going to do everything in my power to help you. We have one of the members of Mesmer's gang in custody and we're going to get you back to normal." She gave Kara a small smile. "Or, well, as normal as my alien baby sister can be."

Kara tapped her foot against the cold floor tile. She wanted to believe Alex, but she was having trouble coming to terms with her missing memories. Kara squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember something, anything. Any gaps or flickers of anything to indicate that something was amiss. Everything she remembered from her life up until this day indicated her life was normal and happy. Her mind told her everything was fine, but in her gut, she felt like everything was wrong.

The idea that someone had altered Kara's mind, stolen her memories and her past upset her. She felt an anger start to churn in the pit of her stomach.

"I could be out there helping people!" Kara said, her voice getting louder. "Saving lives. What if someone had gotten hurt because I was sitting at my desk, twiddling my thumbs."

"Think of it this way - today you went into that building because you knew there were people in trouble. And you did it without knowing that you were basically an indestructible Kryptonian." Alex said. "You did it because you knew it was the right thing to do. It doesn't matter what Mesmer did to your memories, she could take the girl out of the super, but she certainly couldn't take the super out of the girl. 

Alex wrapped her good arm around Kara's shoulder and gave her a firm squeeze. "She couldn't change your fundamental goodness or desire to help others. That's who you are, Kara. Through and through. But I have to wonder," Alex said, "Didn't you think it was odd that a cub reporter had washboard abs?" She poked Kara in the stomach, eliciting a shriek from her ticklish sister.

Maggie returned with a black DEO hoodie she found in the back of Alex's locker, just in time to see Kara swat Alex's hand away. She tossed the sweatshirt at Kara's head, laughing as who gratefully took it and put it on, zipping it up to her chin.

"I've got to admit, Kara, explaining your alien origins was never a conversation I ever expected to have with you. I think I was just as nervous as when I came out to you."

Kara's jaw dropped, "Wait, you're gay?" She asked with alarm.

Alex froze, her eyes going wide. She looked to Maggie in panic before noticing Kara break out into a cheeky grin.

"I'm sorry, that was a bad joke. I was only teasing." Kara said sheepishly.

"Real cute, Little Danvers. I think you gave your sister a heart attack." Maggie said, punching Kara on the arm.

Kara rubbed the spot that Maggie had hit, "So, do you think we can get something to eat? I suddenly feel like I'm starving."

Alex laughed, "Yeah, that's from using your powers. C'mon, let's go get you a couple of pizzas."

* * *

After what felt like endless hours of debriefing and paperwork after that afternoon's fire, Maggie and Alex finally made it back to their apartment. Maggie kicked off her shoes while Alex peeled off her sling before collapsing exhaustedly onto the couch. She watched Maggie walk into the kitchen for a glass a water, shaking out a few painkillers from the prescription bottle and bringing them to Alex.

"Here you go," Maggie said gently, handing Alex the offering.

Alex swallowed the pills, waiting for Maggie to settle down next to her, but Maggie stayed standing, tapping her toe nervously on the carpet.

"So, did you want to talk about it now? Kate, I mean." Maggie asked, broaching the subject of her ex.

"Yeah, I need to apologize." Alex said, clearly catching Maggie off guard. Maggie didn't want to fight with Alex, but she had prepared herself for the possibility that Alex was still upset with Maggie for not telling her the truth about Kate.

Alex grabbed Maggie's hand, pulling her down onto the couch next to her, wrapping her uninjured arm snugly around Maggie's waist.

"I'm sorry I left you this morning with you thinking I was angry. That wasn't fair of me."

"You're not angry?" Maggie asked.

"I was caught off guard, that's all. I told you, this whole 'serious relationship' business is new to me. I realize that running into exes is just one of those things."

"Still," Maggie said, "I probably should've mentioned her at some point." She sighed and leaned into Alex's side. "I know you said you didn't want there to be any secrets between us, but it's still hard for me."

Alex kissed the top of Maggie's head, not forcing her to say any more. Alex knew life had given Maggie more than her fair share of knocks and it had left her guarded and prone to deal with her emotions in destructive ways. Alex wasn't perfect either, her need for control and order nearly sabotaged their relationship. But together they had been helping each other heal.

"Al, there's something else I should tell you about me and Kate." Maggie whispered.

Alex held her tighter. "Not tonight, Mags. Let tonight just be about you and me. The only thing I want is a hot bath and to go to bed."

Maggie smiled, "Sure, that I can handle."

Maggie got up off the couch and went to the bathroom. Alex could hear the water start to run.

"Hey, babe," Maggie said, emerging from the bathroom a minute later, "I put out your favorite-"

Alex cut Maggie off with a kiss, pressing her hand firmly on Maggie's lower back, pulling her in close.

"Being with you makes me so happy, you know that, right?" Alex asked.

"I feel pretty lucky too, Danvers." Maggie replied tugging gently on Alex's collar, bringing her closer again for another kiss. "Now go get in that bath." She said, giving Alex a playful tap on her butt.

Alex laughed, but didn't argue. Maggie watched Alex out of the corner of her eye as Alex stripped off her shirt and closed the door partially behind her.

"Al," Maggie called from the kitchen, "Do you want me to bring you some wine?"

"Only if you're planning on joining me." Alex called back.

"You don't have to ask me twice," Maggie said, grabbing the bottle from the counter and followed Alex into the bathroom.


	8. Chapter 8

To avoid accidentally revealing her secret to anyone else, Kara elected to spend the day at the DEO with Alex. She called Snapper pretending to have the flu, but with a promise that she would be back on her feet in no time.

Alex set herself up in the lab, running a series of prototype simulations through the computer which she had uploaded all of the data they had on Kara's brain. She had Winn checking on news outlets for any reports on the costumed hero who called herself ‘Mary Marvel’ and also pulling any and all police reports on Gladys and Del and the other members of their gang.

After a few hours of watching Alex look at data that was incomprehensible to Kara, Kara was bored. She paced restlessly around the lab, staring longingly out of the high window at the clear blue sky.

She sighed heavily, looking around for something to do. Seeing a large metal desk on the other side of the room, Kara was struck with an idea. She walked up to it and hoisted it up over her head with ease. Kara smiled smugly at her strength, not noticing the desk shifting. Suddenly, the desk tipped, all the drawers sliding out and crashing to the floor.

Alex turned sharply to see a mess of files and office supplies spread around the room. She took her glasses off and gave Kara a stern look. Kara set the desk down gently and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Kara, what are you doing?" Alex asked.

"Practicing." Kara said. "If we can't find a way of bringing my memories back, I'm going to have to figure out my powers so I can be...uh, what did you say my code name was, again?"

"Supergirl."

"Right, Supergirl. I need to be able to protect the city." Kara said.

Alex leaned back on her elbow. "Practicing, huh? How about you practice your telekinesis?"

Kara's eyes went wide with excitement. "I can move things with my mind?"

"Oh, sure," Alex smiled. She picked up a rubber band ball from the floor. "Here. Try and stop this." Alex pitched the ball at Kara which promptly bounced off her forehead and hit the floor again.

"That was for yesterday." Alex laughed loudly watching Kara rub the spot on her face that had gotten beaned. "Listen Kara, if you're bored, go to one of the training rooms and punch something. Or see if J'onn will take you flying."

"Wait, are you serious about that? Or are you setting me up to hit the ground like a ton of bricks?"

"You better go find out for yourself." Alex watched Kara skip excitedly out of the room. "Oh, and tell Winn to come and see me when he has a chance." She called after her sister.

A few minutes later, Winn entered with a couple files in tow.

"What have you learned about our new costumed friend?" Alex asked.

"Honestly? Not much. A few papers include it in their reports about the fire and a clip of her talking to a reporter ran on the local station late last night, but that’s about it. The fact of the matter is, it barely registered to most people because everyone thought it was Supergirl in a new costume." He shrugged. "Although, I’m a little insulted, I would never design something with a cape that wasn’t functional. Frankly, I thought the whole getup was gaudy.”

"Winn, back on track.” Alex warned.

"Right, sorry." He flipped to another page. "So, a few Superhero Watch blogs are suggesting that she might be linked to a hero in Fawcett City, but it’s all speculation."

"How is it possible no one cares about this?" Alex sighed exasperatedly.

Winn laughed, "Are you serious? The Emus won the pennant yesterday, that’s the only thing on anyone’s mind right now."

"Right, the Emus." Alex said. "OK, fine. Find anything else out about our criminal gang?" She asked.

"Not much more than we already knew from Mesmer's rap sheet." Winn answered, opening a second file. "Del, short for Delores McPherson, seems to have a few accessory charges for the same crimes as Gladys." He handed the files over to Alex.

"Did M'gann get anything from her?" Alex took the files, flipping through them herself.

"Um," Winn hesitated, suddenly looking very nervous.

"What's wrong?"

"Um, the thing is...uh," Winn stuttered, "It's that M'gann never came in."

"What do you mean?" Alex slapped the papers down onto her desk. "Del's not talking, so we need M'gann in here to read her mind."

"She told me to tell you that she's not your trained circus monkey and that she refuses to pry into people's minds without their permission and then she said a few other things that I don't think I should repeat." Winn finished breathlessly.

Alex growled, swiping the files off her desk in anger.

"We currently have no way of getting Kara's memories back. We need to find Mesmer and soon." Alex said.

"We'll figure it out," Winn said gently, "We always do."

"We have to help her, Winn." Alex said, pressing her fingers into her temples.

"We will. She's never let us down, we'll do the same for her."

* * *

Winn set Kara up in her training room and gave her a back-up Supergirl costume to put on. Kara was impressed with the material, it was flame retardant, breathable and it flexed and stretched with all of Kara's movements. She dodged a projectile launched from one of the attack dummies, before ripping it apart with her bare hands.

"Yeah, that's right!" Kara crowed, beating her chest, standing over the trashed remains of the machine. "That's 'S' for Supergirl and you're no match for me."

"Looks like your skills are still sharp," J'onn said, entering the practice area.

"Yeah, I guess I don't know why everyone is so concerned about my memories. Physically, I'm fine. I could go out right now and take down some bad guys," Kara said, doing a few punches.

"Well, for starters, that 'S' doesn't stand for Super." J'onn smirked.

Kara froze, her arms dropping to her side.

"What did Alex tell you about your heritage?" J'onn asked.

"Not much, she mentioned I was an alien."

"You're from a planet called Krypton. That symbol on your chest represents your family, the House of El. Your people were steadfast and honorable." J'onn gripped Kara's shoulder firmly. "El Mayarah."

Kara furrowed her brow, "El Mayarah? What's that?"

"'Stronger Together,' the motto of your family." J'onn said. "You are more than your physical abilities. What makes you a hero are the values that guide your actions. The values that were instilled in you by your Kryptonian people. And that is what Alex and everyone else is working so hard to return to you."

"That's a lot of pressure," Kara exhaled.

J'onn chuckled, "Somehow I think you'll handle it. You've done it before."

"So," Kara said, changing the subject, "What's this I hear about flying?"

* * *

Lena reminded herself that this was her best shot, as she pulled the collar of her jacket tighter. She picked her way carefully through the alley toward the entrance of the bar, the address of which she had gotten from Kara. Inside was quieter than she expected, but she supposed it was still early. Looking around, she spotted M'gann behind the bar.

"Hello, M'gann," Lena said firmly as she approached.

M'gann looked up, but didn't stop wiping the counter with a dingy rag.

"Lena Luthor." She answered, "I never expected to see you here."

"I realize my last name makes my presence here awkward and unwelcome, so I'll just cut to the chase." Lena cleared her throat. "I want to help Kara, but I'm no closer to reconstructing what happened to her. I assume Alex and the DEO aren't either."

"You'd be right." M'gann said as she knelt down to grab a few clean glasses stacked below the bar.

"I don't know what Alex's plans are, but I've decided this cannot wait any longer. Kara is too important to this city for us to continue banging our heads against a wall, getting nowhere." Lena explained, "So, I've come up with a Plan B, but I'm going to need your help."

"My help? Why don't you ask Agent Alex? She's actually DEO, she can get you anything you need." She set the glasses down and grabbed the rag again.

"Well," Lena tapped her finger on the bar top, "I don't think she'd be on board with what I've got planned."

Lena's statement piqued M'gann's interest. She stopped wiping down the counter and finally gave Lena her full attention.

"And what exactly do you have planned?" M'gann asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"I heard you have one of the members of Mesmer's gang in custody. I was hoping you could get me in to talk to her." Lena leaned in closer. "Privately. That is."

M'gann smirked, grabbing two shot glasses and pouring out some tequila.

"I'm listening," M'gann said, pushing one of the glasses toward Lena.

"If I can convince her to point us toward the original culprit I think I can get Kara's memories restored."

"How do you plan on doing that?" M'gann asked.

"Oh, I've been told I can be very persuasive." Lena said with a grin.

M'gann knocked back the tequila and crossed her arms, watching Lena do the same. "Alex is going to hate this." She said knowingly.

"I understand if you would feel uncomfortable going behind Agent Danvers' back, but-"

M'gann cut her off. "Are you kidding me? I'm definitely in." She tossed the rag into a bucket on the floor. "Let's go."


	9. Chapter 9

Later that night, Lena waited for M'gann in a parking garage near the DEO headquarters. She pulled the brim of her baseball cap a little lower and adjusted the zipper of her jacket. She had changed into one of Alex's spare DEO uniforms that M'gann had somehow acquired.

Lena checked her phone again looking around for M'gann. She heard footsteps behind her, but when she turned around, she came face to face with Alex Danvers.

"Agent Danvers," Lena did her best to sound casual, as if it was possible to casually explain why she was loitering in a parking garage in the middle of the night wearing Alex's clothes.

"Ms. Luthor. What are you doing here?" Alex asked.

"Uh, I'm just doing some-" Lena faltered, voice tightening in panic.

Alex broke out into huge peals of laughter, "I'm sorry, Lena, I'm just shitting, you. It's me."

"M'gann?" Lena exhaled heavily. "That's real funny." She said dryly.

"C'mon," M'gann waved Lena on, ignoring her sarcasm, "Let's get going."

M'gann lead Lena into the DEO. They stopped at the desk to check in with the night agent covering the front desk.”

"Just stay quiet," M'gann whispered to Lena. "Tyler!" M'gann called to the man at the desk.

"Evening, Agent Danvers," He replied, "What are you doing here so late? I thought you and Detective Sawyer had gone home for the night."

"Got called in, had to deal with one of the new recruits doing something stupid." M'gann clapped Lena on the back. Lena coughed as M'gann knocked the air from her lungs. "You know what it's like dealing with rookies."

"I certainly do," He smiled sympathetically, "Go on ahead."

They walked quickly into the building, Lena trailing behind M'gann. She had to pick up her pace to keep up with M'gann, which caused her heavy footsteps to echo off the walls and ceiling.

"Can't you walk any quieter?" M'gann hissed, "You're stomping around like you have elephant feet and we're trying to blend in."

M'gann had swiped one of Alex's uniforms from her locker for Lena to wear to look less conspicuous as they trekked the halls of the agency, but to M'gann's dismay, it was having the opposite effect. Lena looked uncomfortable in Alex's Kevlar jacket and utility belt.

"I'm sorry, but combat boots aren't in my typical wardrobe rotation." Lena shot back.

M'gann stopped them before turning a corner. She peeked around, making sure the coast was clear before leading them down another hallway.

"Here," M'gann said, pointing to a door. "She's in here."

"OK," Lena nodded, adjusting the zipper of her jacket. "Before we go in there, is there anything else you know about this girl that wasn't in her file?"

M'gann stared at the door, jamming her hands into her pants pockets.

"I don't like to use my psychic powers without permission, but there is one thing her mind was crying out on the day of the fire." She sighed heavily. "Please don't tell Alex this but, Mesmer is her sister."

Lena nodded, "I promise it won't leave this room."

M'gann reached for the doorknob, but Lena put her hand on her arm to stop her.

"Wait, one more thing." Lena said. "You're a shape-shifter?"

M'gann balked at Lena's question, "You want to have the, 'so you're an alien' conversation now?"

"No, that's not what I meant. I'm wondering if you can turn into anything more frightening." Lena made claw hands in M'gann's direction for emphasis.

M'gann knitted her brow in confusion for a moment, but then shrugged. Lena watched as Alex's shape began to morph into a horned demon-looking creature with fangs and red skin.

"Is this what you had in mind?" M'gann asked in a low, grumbling voice.

"Perfect." Lena smiled, leading the way into Del’s room.

* * *

When Lena and M'gann entered the room, the first thing they saw was Del's back pressed up against the glass. She was sitting on the floor wearing a gray pullover sweatshirt and sweatpants. An outfit someone must have found for her from the bottom of their gym bag.

She didn't hear them enter. Or chose to ignore the sound of the door opening.

"Delores McPherson." Lena said by way of introduction.

Del turned her head slighting toward Lena's voice, only recoiling in fright once her eyes hit M'gann.

"Wha-?" Del stammered, "Who are you?"

Lena walked up to the glass cell and knelt down to be eye level with Del.

"Consider us..." Lena paused, thinking, "Potential associates." She finished.

"Fuck off," Del spat, turning back around and putting her head between her knees.

"Hey, hey." Lena said, rapping her knuckles against the glass. "I need you to listen to me, otherwise my friend here is going to have to break all your fingers." 

"I don't think your boss will appreciate to find out you're threatening a prisoner." Del said, her head still in her lap.

"Well, that's just it. Do you see a badge?" Lena waited for Del to turn around. She watched as Del looked her up and down. "No. You don't. It's because I'm not actually DEO. No one knows we're here." Lena gave Del a matter of fact look.

"So?" Del asked hesitantly.

"So, I think it would behoove you to hear us out. We could come to a mutually beneficial agreement if you're willing."

A long moment of silence passed between the two of them. Del shifted a little so she was sitting in a position to look at Lena face to face.

"OK." Del shrugged, "What do you want?"

"All I want to know is how to contact Gladys."

"That's it?" Del asked.

"That's it." Lena repeated.

"Then I stand by what I said already, 'fuck off.'" Del said.

Lena was at the end of her patience. She slammed her palm against the glass.

"Listen to me. I know you've been kicking around with Gladys long enough to fully comprehend the damage she has done to my friend. I'm done playing games, in another minute I'm going to have my associate here scramble your brain so badly, you'll be drooling into the corner of a padded room for the rest of your life."

Lena looked back at a very confused looking M'gann. She shook her head almost imperceptibly indicating to M'gann to keep standing quietly nearby.

Lena returned her gaze to Del. She could see the girl's resolve beginning to waver. Lena had been in enough board rooms and done enough negotiations to see when she just about had someone agreeing to her terms.

"Listen," Lena said a little more softly, "I know better than most the burden of family."

Del met her eyeline and Lena could see the recognition dawn on her face. Lena's picture had run in all the papers during Lex's trial.

"You don't have to bear the weight of your family's sins. If you talk to us, we will get you out of here."

"What do you want with Gladys?" Del whispered, her voice breaking slightly.

"I just need her to fix my friend. After that, she can disappear. In fact, I think it's best for everyone." Lena nodded.

"And what about me?" Del asked.

"Well, once Kara has her memories back and Gladys is in the wind, that's it. There's no proof of a crime. The DEO won't be able to hold you any longer."

Lena watched Del's shoulders sag.

"Alright," Del said, "I'll help you."

* * *

Kara thought it was slightly odd that she had gotten an early morning message from Lena saying she wanted to meet, but she shrugged it off. Anything to keep her from spending another day cooped up at the DEO was welcome distraction.

The situation went from odd to surprising when Lena's car pulled up in front of Kara's building and when she got in, found that M'gann was there as well.

"M'gann? What are you doing here?" Kara asked.

"Hey, Kara! Hop in, Lena's buying breakfast burritos and coffee." M'gann said, shifting over to make room in the back for Kara.

"I am?" Lena quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you woke me up a six o'clock in the morning. You're buying breakfast burritos."

Kara laughed, "Hey, sounds good to me."

Once she got M'gann and Kara food, the car pulled up near an office park on the the West side of town.

"Both of you stay here," Lena said pushing open the door.

"Lena, wait. What's going on?" Kara asked, but the only answer she got was the car door slamming in her face. She turned back to M'gann who shrugged indifferently while unwrapping the foil from a burrito.

Early that morning, Lena sent a one line text message to the number Del had given her.

 **Lena (4:56 AM):** _I know where your sister is. I can help you._

 **UNK (5:23 AM):** _Is this a joke?_

 **Lena (5:25 AM):** _Name the time and place and we'll discuss._

And that's how Lena found herself standing in an empty warehouse waiting for Mesmer to show. It crossed her mind briefly that she was walking into some sort of trap or ambush, but shook the feeling off.

A few long minutes passed before a voice cut into the silence.

"I don't see any authorities," Gladys said, appearing from the back of the building, her gun trained on Lena. "So, I'm listening. You have 60 seconds."

"Well, to start Ms. St. James, you're going to put gun away." Lena said coolly. "Are you trying to intimidate me? You're hardly the first person to point a gun at me." Lena paused, thinking, "In fact, you're not even the first person to point a gun at me this week. So, put it away and we'll discuss this like adults."

Lena's icy demeanor easily pierced through Gladys' false confidence.

"Fine." Gladys said, jamming the pistol into the back of her jeans. "Where's my sister?"

"The DEO has her." Lena said.

"What? Why are they involved?" Gladys began pacing agitatedly around the room.

"Because you've interfered in their affairs." Lena explained, "And they are going to let your sister sit in a cell until they find you."

"Then what are you doing here. You're not DEO." Gladys snapped.

"I'm here, Ms. St. James, because I am a businesswoman and I am willing to broker a deal that will make this all go away."

Gladys stared at Lena, trying to decide whether she was being set up somehow. Wondering if she was about to sacrifice the lives of her and her sister.

"What do you need from me?" Gladys finally asked.

"My friend. The one whose memories you tampered with? Restore them." Lena said.

"What's in it for me?"

"Money. Does $250,000 sound fair?" This was the part Lena wanted to keep from Alex. She would never agree to Lena using L Corp funds to pay off a criminal. But Lena felt this was their only option.

"I want a million." Gladys demanded.

Money meant nothing to Lena and if it meant helping Kara, she would've gladly paid ten times the amount. Lena pursed her lips, then reached for her pocket. Gladys snapped the gun back on Lena.

"Relax," Lena said, putting her hands up. "I was just getting my phone. You want me to transfer the funds to your account, right?"

"Oh, right." Gladys watched Lena fiddle with her phone. "So you're just going to let us all walk away from this?"

"I told you. I'm not DEO. I don't care about whatever crimes you've committed. I just want you to fix my friend. I can't promise the NCPD won't still be looking for you, but as long as you stay out of National City, you should be fine."

Lena slipped her phone back into her pocket. "Let's finish this."

* * *

Alex drank the last bit of her coffee, looking over a few more files Winn had compiled for her. There wasn't much by way of new information, but she read them over thoroughly just in case.

"Morning, Agent Danvers," J'onn greeted, "How's the case coming?"

"About the same. Winn's working in the lab today. we still haven't picked up a lead on Mesmer yet. I'd thought I'd try taking a run at our suspect again."

J'onn nodded, gesturing for Alex to lead the way. He followed her down the hall and into the room that held Del.

Alex didn't even get a chance to begin her line of questioning before Del interrupted.

"I don't know why you're here. I don't know anything else," Del said. "I promise, I told your friend everything last night."

"What are you talking about?" Alex questioned. "Who did you talk to last night?"

She looked down into Del's tired, glassy eyes.

"Lena Luthor."


	10. Chapter 10

Alex led her tact team to the warehouse where she had tracked Kara's phone. She put her fist up to signal to the others to hold while she kicked the door in.

"Everyone freeze!" Alex shouted, scanning the room. What she found was not what she was expecting. Lena was sitting on an overturned crate, her ankles crossed, scrolling through her phone looking as if she was causally waiting in a doctor's office lobby. M'gann sat nearby on the floor, eating what appeared to be the end of a burrito. Between them , Kara laid stretched out on the floor. Her eyes were closed and there was a balled up sweatshirt supporting her head

"Hello, Agent Danvers." Lena greeted, standing up, striding over to a dumbfounded Alex.

"What is going on here? What did you do?" Alex questioned.

"I did what needed to be done, Agent Danvers." Lena said.

"Lena, you've interfered in an investigation, you've committed a federal offense, you've-"

Alex's tirade was cut off by Kara emitting a pained groan.

"Alex?" Kara mumbled.

"Hey, guys?" M'gann called across the room to Lena and Alex, "I think she's waking up."

All of Alex's anger toward Lena dissipated as she rushed to Kara's side. Dropping to her knees, she put her arm behind Kara's shoulders and helped her sit up.

"Hey, Kara." Alex said softly. "How are you feeling?"

"Ugh, my head hurts," Kara said, rubbing her temples with the heels of her palms. "And I'm hungry, I think M'gann ate my burrito."

"She's obviously still delirious," M'gann said, lobbing a tin foil ball behind her back.

Alex wrapped her arm around Kara's back, supporting her as they walked to the door. "I'll deal with you later," She said to Lena.

"Deal with?" Lena said innocently, as far as you're concerned, we were having a breakfast meeting when Kara fainted. Isn't that right, M'gann?"

M'gann nodded, "Yep, low blood sugar. That's all."

Alex glared at both of them.

"Get out of here, I don't want to see either of you right now." She barked.

Lena shrugged, gesturing to M’gann to follow her. 

“M’gann, let’s leave them to it, I’ll give you a ride back.” Lena stepped aside, allowing M’gann to pass her. 

“Hey, can we stop for more coffee? I need another fix.”

Lena shook her head, “You are worse than Kara.”

* * *

Alex refused to let Kara go home alone that night, even though Alex checked Kara over thoroughly and was satisfied she was healthy. All of her memories had returned, but it hard for Kara. Alex held her hand while she cried, the loss of her family and planet cut her heart open like it was happening all over again.

After Alex got Kara to eat some food, she got them both back to Kara's apartment.

"Kara, get some sleep. I'm going to stay on the couch in case you need anything." Alex instructed.

"Alex, you don't need to do this," Kara said, slipping her shoes off and heading for her bedroom. "I'm going to be OK."

"I know you will be, but just let me do this." Alex sat down on the couch. "It'll make me feel better."

"You should be home with Maggie, not here babying me."

"Oh, don't worry about Maggie. She'll probably be happy to have the place to herself. She can sit in her underwear, eat vegan ice cream and watch _Game of Dragons_ or whatever that nerd show is called." Alex rubbed her eyes, feeling like she could fall asleep at any moment.

"It's _Game of Thrones_ and you know that," Kara shouted from her bedroom.

Kara came back to the living room, having changed into pajamas.

"Wow, you look exhausted, here, c'mon," Kara grabbed Alex's arm, pulling her up off the couch, "We can share my bed."

Alex didn't protest, collapsing next to her sister and wrapping herself up in a blanket. Kara switched out the light, letting herself be comforted by the steady sounds of Alex's breathing. Kara was reminded of all the times she climbed into Alex bed when they were kids because everything was new and frightening to her.

"Alex?" Kara whispered.

"Yeah?" Alex mumbled.

"Thank you for everything you did for me." Kara shifted a bit, turning toward her sister.

"I didn't do much, Lena was the one who paid off Mesmer." Alex said miserably.

"Don't be upset with Lena, she was only doing what she thought was best."

"I know, Kar, I was just scared. Mostly I'm glad you're OK." Alex stared up at the ceiling of Kara's room where Kara had affixed glow in the dark stars.

"But that's not what I meant. When I got my memories back, it was like they all passed by my eyes like a flip book. I was reminded of all the things you've done for me." Kara explained. "All the nights you held me when everything was too loud, making sure no one at school teased me. Alex, you've basically made your whole life about protecting me."

Kara wiped a few tears from her eyes. "So, thank you." She wrapped Alex up in a hug.

"I love you, Kara."

"Love you too, Alex."

* * *

Kara walked slowly into work that morning. She had her meeting with her boss and Kara was convinced this was going to be her last day working for CatCo. With everything that had happened with Mesmer, she never was able to come up with the story leads Mary Bromfield asked her for.

Kara stepped toward Mary Bromfield's office, hesitating in the threshold when she noticed her boss was on the phone.

"Billy, I won't be making a habit of that. I promise. It was a one time thing." Mary nodded at Kara, waving her into the office. "Love you too. Bye."

She hung her phone up as Kara sat down.

"Siblings," Mary said, "Always so overprotective."

"My older sister is the same way." Kara said weakly.

Mary cleared her throat, "Kara, we need to talk."

"I know." Kara said, looking down at the floor.

Mary laced her fingers together, setting her hands on her desk. "I've given it a lot of thought, and I've reconsidered the importance of your contributions to this magazine."

Kara's head snapped up, "Excuse me?"

"I've spent the last few days going over articles we've published about Supergirl." She slid a stack of clippings toward the middle of the desk. "Listen, you know that I'm new to National City and I think I've underestimated her importance to the people here."

Kara looked at her boss skeptically, but Mary continued.

"She's a powerful symbol of hope and unity. And I want to make sure we're doing all we can to support her. So, I'm reassigning you. From now on you are going to be a special correspondent for the _National City Scene_. Wherever Supergirl goes, I want you there reporting on it."

"Seriously? You're not firing me?" Kara asked breathlessly.

Mary smiled at Kara, "No. In fact, I think this new position will be the perfect fit for you."

Kara leapt out of her chair, knocking it to the floor. "Thank you, so much. I promise you, Ms. Bromfield, you will not be disappointed."

"You're welcome, Kara. Now get to work."

Mary laughed as Kara zipped out of her office. She had a good sense of her young employee and felt it would be worth having her nearby. Given Kara's predilection for danger based on what Mary suspected were her after-hours extracurriculars, Mary guessed Kara could probably use all the support she could get. And Mary herself was in the unique position to offer it in the case of an emergency. So for now, Mary wanted to be able to keep an eye on Kara.

* * *

Kate Kane thrived in the dark. It made her feel powerful, untouchable. She felt like the night protected her, made her senses sharp. And now, walking down the sidewalk listening to the sound of her boot heels clicking off the concrete she was sure someone had been following her for the past four blocks.

Kate picked up her pace, ducking into an alley. She hid herself into the shadows, waiting for whoever was following her to turn the corner. She waited longer than it should've taken. Kate carefully stepped out, looking around when a voice materialized out of nowhere behind her.

"Kate Kane," the deep voice said.

She turned to see a tall man in a black uniform.

"My name is J'onn Jones. I work for the DEO. The Department-"

Kate cut him off. "I know the DEO. I was acquainted with one of your agents, Cameron Chase."

"Ah, yes. I recall that."

"Yeah, you 'recall.' Chase stalked me for six months under the orders of your agency." Kate said. "So, why are you following me this time?"

"I want your help."

Kate laughed, "Well, you're not going to get it. I don't work for you."

"No, but your alter-ego might. Batwoman, I believe?"

"Yeah, that's what Agent Chase thought, too. But she never could prove it." Kate turned to walk away from him."

"I can't prove you're Batwoman. You're right, Agent Chase never had any evidence. But she did have proof that your father was improperly funneling Kane Foundation funds into weapons and tech for Batwoman." J'onn said, his words stopping Kate in her tracks, "And that's something I'm willing to share with his superior officers and Homeland Security."

Kate felt her breath catch in her throat. "You wouldn't dare." She whispered. "You'd be willing to ruin a good man's life for your personal gain?"

"I'm willing to do what is necessary to protect my own." J'onn said, crossing his arms.

"Right, your Kryptonian lap dog. I forgot about her." Kate said bitterly. "Fine. Tell me what you want."

"Lena Luthor. I don't trust her or her relationship with Supergirl. I know she's hiding something and I want you to find out what it is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thanks for reading. I hope you were mildly amused.
> 
> I guess if you have any need to talk to me on tumblr, you can find me at captain-empty


End file.
